A new study from Oxford Economics claims that 20 million manufacturing jobs will be lost to robots by 2030. The research is derived from automation in the workplace having grown threefold over the past two decades. 2.25 million robots are already in service, they say.
“As a result of robotization, tens of millions of jobs will be lost, especially in poorer local economies that rely on lower-skilled workers. This will therefore translate to an increase in income inequality,” the study’s authors said.
China will incur the most significant losses, followed by the EU and United States.
It was predicted that by 2030, more than 1.5 million jobs would have been lost to robots in the United States. In China, that number was expected to exceed 11 million. Across EU member states, almost 2 million people would lose out on employment because of automation, the report said.